Redlands High School has chosen Mike McFarland to be its football coach, the school’s principal, Kate Bartells, said in a statement posted to the program’s Facebook page Thursday morning.

McFarland spent the past three seasons as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Missouri University of Science and Technology, a NCAA Division II program located in Rolla, Mo. He’s also been an assistant coach at Occidental, Minnesota State-Moorhead and Missouri Western.

Bartells said she expects McFarland will join the staff as a teacher and coach around March 1 and that a meeting with players and parents will be scheduled very soon after his arrival.

“We are confident that we have searched for and found a head football coach whose knowledge, experience, enthusiasm and professionalism will ensure success for our student-athletes both on the field at RHS and into their next level of play,” Bartells said in the statement.

Redlands High School has chosen Mike McFarland to be its new football coach. McFarland, center, has been an assistant coach at Missouri University of Science and Technology for the past three seasons. (Photo courtesy of Missouri S&T Athletics)

McFarland takes the reins from Derrick Dial, who coached the Terriers on an interim basis after longtime coach Jim Walker retired after 25 years. Redlands went 4-6 in 2017 and finished fifth in the Citrus Belt League. The program has missed the playoffs three of the past five seasons.

This will be McFarland’s third head coaching stint on the high school level. He led Pasadena to a 5-5 record during the 2009 season. McFarland compiled a 13-29 record during his four seasons at Temple City, but he did lead the program to playoff appearances in 2010 and 2012.

“Redlands High School is very excited to have found a coach with local ties at the high school level,” Redlands assistant principal Chris Ruhm said in a statement from the Redlands Unified School District. “We are confident in his energy level and his commitment to success for our program.”

McFarland was born in Modesto but was a three-sport athlete at Arcadia High School, lettering in football, basketball and track. He earned his bachelor’s degree from California Lutheran.

Eric-Paul Johnson has been covering high school sports for The Press-Enterprise since 1999, specializing in football, girls volleyball, girls water polo and softball. He is a stat junkie who created and maintains a record book for high school sports in the Inland Empire. Eric-Paul is a lifelong resident of Riverside and graduated from Bethel Christian and Cal Baptist. Eric-Paul enjoys going to concerts and twice has worked as a photographer at the Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival.